There is a country music song by singer Kacey Musgraves that, despite its being part of popular culture, fits so perfectly with the message of Parshat Noach. The middle verse goes as follows -
“Well the sky is finally open, the rain and wind stopped blowin'
But you're stuck out in the same old storm again
You hold tight to your umbrella, well, darlin' I'm just tryin' to tell ya
That there's always been a rainbow hangin' over your head”.
We have been taught over the years that Hashem guided Noach through all the years prior to and during the building of the Tayvah, the Ark. Hashem told Noach how to prepare himself and his family and even the animals and reassured Noach that He would be with him throughout the ordeal. Noach, pure of heart, an איש תמים, did exactly what Hashem told him. But what happened at the end of the journey? What happened when the storm stopped?
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote in “Covenant and Conversation (October 2015) that Parshat Noach teaches us the fundamentals of Faith. Rabbi Sacks brings an extraordinary ancient Midrash found in Midrash Yelamdenu. The Midrash comments on the passuk “Then Hashem said to Noach, Come out of the Ark (Bereishit 8:16)” as follows: Noach said to himself, since I only entered the ark with permission from G-d, shall I leave without permission? Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Noach “Are you looking for permission? In that case I give you permission, as it says, “then G-d said to Noach, Come out of the Ark”. But the Midrash continues “Said Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai “If I had been there I would have smashed down [the doors of] the ark, and taken myself out of it.” The moral Rabbi Sacks draws from this is that “when it comes to rebuilding a shattered world, you do not wait for permission. G-d gives us permission. He expects us to go on ahead.”
Rabbi Sacks continues that the attribute of being proactive is actually one substantiated by Chazal in understanding why Hashem began the Jewish nation with Avraham and not with Noach. In referring to Noach, the passuk reads “and Noach walked with Hashem (Breishit 6:9)” and with Avraham, it is written that Hashem says “Walk on ahead of me” (Breishit 17:1)
Faith, Emunah, in Judaism includes having the courage to move out of our personal shelters and limitations, to be innovative, to be creative and to seek out new opportunities (of course consistent with Torah values and Halacha). This is indeed what Avraham and Sarah did as they left their homes and families behind. It was Bnai Yisrael did when they left Mitzrayim and followed Moshe into the Midbar after more than two hundred years of servitude. It is what the Holocaust survivors did to build new homes and new lives. It is what the early settlers in Eretz Yisrael did to rebuild a Homeland. Think of all the Jewish scientists, Nobel Prize winners, economists, the thinkers and more importantly the doers. Did they wait for permission or did they have the faith to move on? Are you a follower or a leader? Are you stuck in your Teyvah or are you ready to burst out?
But how can we do so? Because there is always a “rainbow over our head”. We always have our covenant, our Brit, with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. At SBTAG, we teach our girls to be creative thinkers, to not be afraid to ask questions, to be leaders in all of the undertakings. Indeed to be leaders of their own journey. On a daily basis after Shachrit we recite Tehillim. One of the best known perakim is #23 - Hashem Ro-ee - The L-rd is my shepherd. Even though I walk in the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.
גם כי־אלך בגיא צלמות לא־אירא רע כי־אתה עמדי I am not afraid to venture out because
You, Hashem, are always with me.
Again, to reiterate, not all adventures or innovations are constructive. There are definitely some limits we put on ourselves and our children when we venture out into the world, be it virtually or physically. The underlying tenet is that our Faith in Hashem and our adherence to mitzvot, is what allows us to be creative, to think, to try something new. We walk a tightrope when we do so, and we need to be adept at balancing, but we can hold our heads up and look straight forward because we have Hashem as our safety net and balancing pole (שבטך ומשענתך המה ינחמוני)
To quote Rabbi Sacks “Faith is the courage to take a risk for the sake of G-d or the Jewish people; to begin the journey to a distant destination knowing that there will be hazards along the way, but knowing also that Hashem is with us, giving us strength to align our will with His. Faith is not certainty, but the courage to live with uncertainty.”
May we all have the ability, the desire, and the courage to Keep the Faith.
Shabbat Shalom
Rochelle Brand, Ed.D
Head of School
Comentários